Woodford Green with Essex Ladies Athletics Club just missed out on top spot in the second Southern Athletic League fixture on Saturday.

With home advantage, the team were hoping to climb up the table from 17th place.

In the girls events, Hollie Redman won both the shot put as well as the discus and pole vaulters Monica Griffith (Under-17) and Stephanie Smith (Under-20) secured the team a second and first with 2.10m and 2.00m respectively.

Katie Skelding competed excellently to win the 100m and the 200m, and in the latter she beat Jo Ryan with an impressive time of 24.99.

Ayamba Akim won the high jump and, after illness had forced the other middle distance runners out of the competition, Alex Wardle and Jenny Thomas stepped in for the 800m and 1500m and then Wardle went on to compete in the 4x100m relay.

The men won 25 out of their 36 events and Chris Linque, supported by Hugh Williams, got first place in the shot put, and they both repeated the triumph later on in the discus.

In the hammer, Peter Clarke came first and Robert Wolski won the high jump after reaching 1.90m.

In the pole vault, Sam Makeout and Kevin Murphy were the best point scorers out of any male team on the day with 23.

George Hamilton won the ‘A’ string long jump with 6.37m and Keith Newton opened up with a promising 12.61m but didn’t extend the distance any further.

Under-17 Dave Peddle secured the club a win in the Javelin to get a new personal best of 36.88m and WGEL won every throw on the day in both the ‘A’ and ‘B’ string.

On the track, Jason Greenidge, Edward Yamah and Paul Scanlan took charge of the sprints, with Under-17 Luke Speller coming in to the team at the last minute after Ed Yamah injured himself in the 100m.

Speller was then involved in the victorious 4x100m team, with Ally Strange, Scanlon and Greenidge.

Strange felt discomfort in his first race, the 800m, but he soon recovered and went on to win three other events.

Shepherd surprised many on-lookers in the 1500m by overcoming feeling below par to finish third ahead of his fellow runners.

Bertie Powell showed his ability after front-running a sub nine-minute 3k as well as taking time off his personal best and Harold Webber gained full points for the team in the steeplechase.

The day ended with the 4x400m relay team of Malekout, Strange, Shepherd and Scanlon achieving first place.

Woodford had 35 victories out of a possible 72 (a 49 per cent win ratio), which was far beyond what manager Ed Messer could have expected.